Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Since our last episode Everyone had settled back into their regular work. Laurel Trebeau continues to work for Dr. Emma Wraight in the Department of Anthropology and Archaeology at Cambridge. Tom and Shivansu continue as custodial staff.

Freiherr von Höllenstadt-Fürchtberg has left England for a bit until the heat from Lucas’ death dies down. He is also working on translating Lucas’ notebooks with the help of Otto Schultz.

Professor Wraight was contacted by Bart Williamson, a bookseller in London that she was introduced to by von Höllenstadt-Fürchtberg. He was looking for any information about a character known as “Hugo the Necromancer”, who supposedly had figured out the secret of controlling death and may have lived in the 12th and/or 13th and/or 14th centuries… So Wraight and Trebeau set about searching the university library.

Two weeks of searching in their spare time had turned up nothing. Wraight then turned to her professional colleagues and canvassed professors of English Literature and history if they had ever heard about such a personality. One history professor told her of a book he thought might prove useful and it did. There was a brief summary of his crimes and it mentioned that his head had been buried “somewhere in London” and his body was buried in a cemetery in Inverness

Professor Wraight and Miss Trebeau decided to travel to London with the information and pay a visit to Mr. Williamson. There they had an odd encounter with the bookseller. Finding he had not been in his shop in over a week, they paid him a visit in his flat which was in quite a state. He was very excited about the information, but then seemed anxious to send them on their way.

The pair decided to summon Tom and Shivansu from Cambridge to pay Mr. Williamson a visit, as they thought they might be a bit more persuasive in getting him to admit what sort of shenanigans he was up to.

The goon squad arrived the following morning but there was no answer at Mr. Williamson’s flat and his shop was still closed. They decided to break into hi apartment and found he had left. They reported the break in to the police – claiming they had come to pay him a visit and found the place that way.

The four then made their way to Scotland (once again) – stopping off at Cambridge to pick up “a few things”…

Arriving in Inverness they first paid a visit to the cemetery to see if anything untoward had happened there and nothing had. The groundskeeper seemed unhelpful in figuring out which grave might contain a medieval warlock… He suggested they try the church.

Arriving at the church they found the parsons murdered and the grave registry torn asunder and scattered about the church office. After answering may questions for the police they retired to an inn for the afternoon, expecting to be up all night,

Just after sunset they stole out to the cemetery and hid out in some bushes near where they figured the older part of the cemetery was. Just after midnight a trio of lanterns came bobbing along in the dark and after some shuffling about – presumably trying to locate the grave they started digging.

(click on the pics to see a larger version)

Our heroes confront Williamson and his diggers. Cranston successfully intimidates the diggers with some comment about Scots “bringing shovels to a gun fight…”

The diggers scarpered and Mr. Williamson drew a pistol from his coat pocket and shot at Tom.

They all rushed him and beat him senseless.

Laurel grabbed away the wooden box he was holding and that was about all she remembered…

Everyone else was quite shocked when Laurel’s eyes rolled back into her head and she started mumbling some strange incantations to herself! They were even more shocked when dead people started rising out of the ground!

Shivansu and Professor Wraight ran over to deal with the first risen corpse.

Tom then proceded to knock Laurel senseless as well.

Shivansu neatly sliced the head of the second risen body and tom started trying to shoot holes in the box.

They then tried breaking the lanterns over the box to burn it. Finally Tom smashed the box apart with his shovel and crushed the head within to nothing. That seemed to be the end of it…

Then the police showed up…

(okay, so not that many probably showed up all at once… but I just painted this lot and have been dying to throw them on the table…)

They had further answers to provide to the Police, but were eventually sent on their way as all fingeres pointed to Mr. Williamson as the murderer of the Parsons and desecrator of graves.

The group plotted about how they would secure Mr. Williamsons books as he was sure to be facing the gallows soone enough!

This game went well enough – started and finished in one evening. I’d like to run more this way!

Sunday, June 27, 2010

I have been somewhat remiss in reporting on our Realms of Cthulhu campaign. Part of this is because things have been developing a little… sloooooooooowwwwwly… I’m going to try and make the future games a bit more episodic – that come to a resolution in one evening – and a little more two-fisted pulpy!

Anyway here’s what were were doing the previous month…

December 1920, England

SITUATION

Since our last episode Dr. Wraight has continued working at the university with Miss Trebeau as her assistant. Lacking fieldwork for them, Dr. Wraight has found custodial work for Messrs Cranston and Malaker around the campus.

Freiherr von Höllenstadt-Fürchtberg has taken an apartment in Cambridge and spends his time between there and his home in Germany, studying in various libraries.

Tom Cranston receives a telegram in early December – which Professor Wraight reads to him – explaining that his father-in-law is missing in a mine collapse. Tom and Shivanshu travel to Newcastle to see what’s going on. Upon their arrival they find a massive effort underway to try and recover the missing miners. Tom and Shivanshu offer their services digging.

They spend their days digging and nights at Tom’s mother-in-law’s. While digging and at the pub they hear some strange rumours about the crew that was caught in the collapse. They apparently made some sort of discovery in another shaft, which has since been closed, and were paid a great deal of money each to not mention what they found to anyone. Also others that were working elsewhere in the mine described a long steady rumbling and shaking of the rock – very unlike a sudden explosion, which is what the mine claims happened.

Shivanshu sends a telegram to the rest of the group explaining the situation and acking them to come to Newcastle at their earliest possible convenience. This is a week or so after their arrival.

Tom and Shivanshu also discovered there was one member of the crew that made the discovery who did not show up for work on the night of the collapse. They discovered he was hiding at his cousins (by following his mum one day) and found out that they had discovered a perfectly round, smooth sided tunnel in the rock. They called on one of the engineers, who seemed very excited about the discovery and paid them all £100 to tell no one about it and the shaft was closed – the engineer citing that it was unstable and prone to collapse.

The engineer is question, it was later discovered was Herman Lucas – an engineer of Polish descent, who was recently hired.

Wraight, Trebeau and von Höllenstadt-Fürchtberg make some preliminary investigations and then von Höllenstadt-Fürchtberg tries to get an in at the mine by presenting himself as a potential investor (his father having owned mines in Silesia, he is able to present himself as somewhat knowledgable in the area…).

All missing miners were eventually recovered and all were dead. None were burned, as one might expect from an explosion.

This Episode was cut rather short when Christian received a phone call from his wife

Episode Two

The missing Miner was murdered along with his cousin.

von Höllenstadt-Fürchtberg discovered there had been a Herman Lucas at one of his fathers mines that was closed and sold in a hurry after some sort of “incident”. Lucas had, however, been declared missing, presumed dead…

Wraight, Trebeau and von Höllenstadt-Fürchtberg had meeting with the owner and managers and had a tour of the mine.

The whole group snuck into the mine and checked out the strange tunnel and found some markings in chalk around the entrance to the tunnel.

Lucas felt the heat getting a bit close and scarpered. It had been over TWO WEEKS since players arrived in town…. I couldn’t wait around forever for them to take some action…

Episode Three

This was a short one and a bit of a gimme…

Von Höllenstadt-Fürchtberg was started from his sleep by what he thought might have been a gunshot! He felt wetness on his face and smelt cordite in the air. He was startled by another two shots in his room and something heavy falling on top of him!

As it all turned out Otto Shultz, his sergeant in East Africa, had come to England. He was concerned for Von Höllenstadt-Fürchtberg safety and arrived not a moment too late! Having arrived late into the evening he let himself into Von Höllenstadt-Fürchtberg’s flat and went to sleep in a chair. He was woken by Herman Lucas breaking in through a window. Lucas found his way into Von Höllenstadt-Fürchtberg’s room and produced a revolver. At this point otto, who had stealthfully followed him into the bedroon shot Lucas in the back (the first shot that woke Von Höllenstadt-Fürchtberg). When Lucas spun around to see his assailant Otto finished him off with a double tap to the head and chest.

While waiting for the police to arrive they searched lucas and found a hotel room key and a receipt. After the police left they gathered Wraight and Trebeau and went to the hotel to see what was there. They found a packed suitcase and took it back to Wraight’s place. In it they found a number of notebooks (all in Polish) and a medieval tome (in latin) called “Wyrms of the Earth”.

That’s about it…

Wraight read the tome and became the first in the group to gain some knowledge of the MYTHOS!!!

Thursday, June 24, 2010

I’m been trying to cook up some simple rules for a Savage Worlds Skirmish Campaign set in World War Two. Thought I ought to set some down in cyberland.

For anyone that hasn’t been paying attention I’ve been running a skirmish campaign set on the East Front starting at the beginning of Operation Barbarossa. So far I’ve been completely “winging it” in terms of replacements and ammo and stuff. But I thought I’d like to come up with some sort of randomizing system to generate replacements and resupply, etc.

Wounds and Recovery - Extras

For each extra that was knocked out of action during the combat make a vigor roll (this is usually done at the end of a game – but can be done during the game if anyone goes to check on the downed comrade). The roll is modified by -2 if they were left on the battlefield and/or their side lost.

A Seriously Wounded extra will miss the next game and roll again as above after the next game (feel free to apply any situational modifiers – harsh conditions, on the move, no medical attention, etc).

A Lightly Wounded extra will miss the next game but return the following game.

A Knocked Out extra was simply knocked out or otherwise temporarily combat ineffective, but is fit to return to action for the next battle!!

Any extras that are left on the table, and the enemy is in control of the field of battle at the end of the game, must check to see if they are captured. They must make a stealth roll to escape and evade (Lightly Wounded extras are at -2, Seriously Wounded extras are at -4). Failure means the extra is captured and remains a prisoner of war for the duration of the campaign and effectively removed from the game.

Wounds and Recovery - Wild Cards

This is dealt with as per the normal rules in the Savage Worlds book with the exception that each wild card may make one natural recovery roll between each scenario, regardless of how much time actually takes place (keeping in mind all situational modifiers; environmental conditions, on the move, lack of medical attention, etc). If there is a point in the campaign where the unit would be brought out of the line for an extended period of time the wild cards may make natural healing rolls for every full five days between actions.

If at all possible any wild card with one or two wounds may be evacuated to a hospital behind the lines – any with three or more will (if possible) be evacuated. They are out of the game until they recover (natural healing rolls every five days) and can return to action.

Experience – Extras

For every two actions that a team of extras takes part in they can have a level-up rank isn’t kept track of – they are limited to the improvements they can take in Showdown and must have all trait requirements to take the level up. Attributes can only ever be raised once each and attributes can only be raised every second level-up.

Replacement Credits

Each character with rank may make a replacement credit roll per turn. This is a d6-2 (or -3 if the unit is cut off from higher echelons that could supply replacements). Characters with rank may pool their replacement credits.

One replacement credit can replace one base level conscript with no experience. Replacements can be found for experienced units. A replacement for an experienced unit requires an additional replacement credit for each level-up the unit has had.

A Negative result on the Replacement Roll means one extra under the command of the Character in question is lost between games due to desertion, sickness, air or artillery bombardment, mines, etc…

Ammunition Credits

After every game, each wild card and unit of extras drops one ammo level. Before the next game each wild card and unit of extras will roll d4 to determine how much ammo they have been able to replace. This roll is modified as follows

-1 if in Good Supply-2 if in Poor Supply – general lack of supplies or means to get it to the frontline units. -3 if Out of Supply – looting corpses of friends and enemies

Again ammo credits can be pooled. Each Ammo credit will raise one wild card or unit one ammo level OR may be used to supply a unit/wild card with d4 grenades.

Fatigue

Each unit or wild card should check for fatigue if they are taking part in a second engagement within 6 (4? 12? 24?) hours, if they have been on the move and haven’t slept in over 24 hours, or if they are out of supply.

If a character had survival they may attempt to make a survival roll to avoid taking a fatigue test due to lack of supply (modified by -2 if on the move or in a region where food and water aren’t redily avaialbe – i.e. middle of a desert). For each raise another character or unit may ignore a fatigue test.

Amanda had completely forgotten we were having a game night last night, and lost track of time – so instead of getting home an hour before the game thus giving me time to prepare and set up… she arrived home half an hour after it was supposed to have started… and I was still trying to herd children in the general direction of bed while players patiently waited downstairs… So I had to come up with something quick and nasty.

I had thought of trying out the Stug against a couple soviet tanks (the BT-7 and T-26… or maybe just the KV-1…?). but didn’t have time to cook up some stats for the Stug or the soviet tanks… so I just went with some stuff I alreadyhad cards for!

15 July 1941, Southeast of Grodno

SITUATION

Pressing ever eastward trying to meet up with friendly forces the soviets have met up with a tank that not only is in good repair and has a trained crew – but it also has fuel AND ammunition!!

SCENARIO

The Soviets start at one end of the table and have to exit off the other before the time runs out (or they take a number of heavy fire rolls equal to the number of turns it would have taken them to walk off from where they were at).

On turn one Germans were spotted and the tank and MG team were exchanging fire!

On the second turn the Pak 36 cracked off it’s first shot at the T-26 and missed! Meanwhile the MG team was eating up bennies and taking out conscripts…

I felt a little bad thinking I’d once again designed a completely unbalanced scenario and the Russians were all going to die (on the plus side I might’ve taken that as an excuse to switch fronts and run a Normandy campaign…) As it turned out this was the high point of the game for the Germans

The remaining conscripts then went and shot one of the AT gun crew (medium range, hard cover and concealed – needed 12 to hit!?)

Then the next turn they did it again – with the same odds – except they took out the remaining TWO crew, before they could even crack off a second shot!?

Next the Conscripts turned their attentions on the MG tean and took out two of them, causing the two remaining Germans to retire into the woods. At that point the soviets started running – as time was quickly ticking away!

I had originally pulled out a full section and a wild card NCO as well, but then realized that they would cut the soviets to pieces out in the open. I dropped the NCO and Rifle team from the scenario but left them in the corner with all the other hidden units – just to keep the players a bit nervous.

The game ended at turn eleven(?) and no one had quite made it off the board – but everyone survived the “heavy fire” rolls.

Once again the conscript snipers did all the dirty work (it was like the first game all over again.

Not only did the conscripts all survive (a rare occurrence!), but Patrick’s character survived a game (a first!)! (and he didn’t even bring root beer…).

Coming Soon to Savage Timmy’s Playhouse:

This Savage Saturday night we should be back to Realms of Cthulhu and next Wednesday we’ll be back at it on the Eastern Front!!

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

I ran this scenario on Savage Saturday a while back for a totally different group of players… So I thought it was about time I threw some weirdness into the east front campaign.

I did just finish up a Stug III C/D and was mightily tempted to use it… maybe next week…

8 July 1941, Southeast of Grodno

SITUATION

Ever eastward our heroes plod hoping to meet up with friendly forces. On the evening of 8 July 1941 They find themselves in some wood the Germans are sweeping through trying to flush out soviet stragglers…

I deployed the Germans on the table – on both flanks, right at the edge of the table. They were really just there to funnel the players into the middle where they would meet the nasty surprise – a big nasty werewolf hiding in the woods! Unlike last time they decided to run the gauntlet.

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)

I left the Germans in woods – well away from the werewolf – and just held shots and fired at the Soviets as they dashed from cover to cover.

The Soviet characters run the gauntlet.

Rayadovoy Valarie Mirisnofski didn’t quite grasp the dashing from cover to cover bit… well he couldn’t really “dash”… more like “waddle” (being obese he had only a 5” move and ran d4”….). Does this look like a firing squad to anyone else…

Some might say Serzhant Boris Trotsky had no luck at all… for a couple turns in a row he was spotted, shot at, and hit! Where they’d be wrong in saying he had no luck was in the fact that the worst he got was shaken out of some eight or so hits?! Or maybe that’s where he took his first wound…?

Rayadovoy Valarie Mirisnofski had the whole of the second squad firing at him as he crashed through the woods… when he finally stopped moving, they stopped filling the wood with flying lead. Of course, he was dead by then… Is that 0-4, Patrick….?

I’m not actually TRYING to kill off each of Patrick’s characters… if just kind of works out that way!

Anyway, thinking they were through the gauntlet and freedom was in sight – all were pretty sad to see the greater werewolf get dropped. It charged Serzhant Trotsky.

Then the wolves came charging on – answering the Werewolves call…

The Werewolf tore up Serzhant Trotsky pretty good. Serzhant Kaskyrbai came to his comrade serzhant’s aid and thrust his bayonet deep into the beasts side – gouts of foul blood spurted all over as the Wolf-man howled in paint!

As the wolves rushed in the two soviet serzhants though it was the end…

The Virgilovski, who’s been holding a single grenade for I don’t know how many battles, threw it off into the darkness. Crazily it scattered the shortest amount it possibly could – in the best direction it possibly could and took out two of the wolves!!

Kaskyrbai finished off the werewolf and the last wolf ran away!

Serzhant Trotsky’s in a pretty bad way – suffering from three wounds…

Coming Soon to Savage Timmy’s Playhouse:

No game this (not-so-Savage) Saturday so we’ll be back at it next (World War) Wednesday!

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Back to World War Wednesdays… (although next week will be cancelled due to another board meeting… how do I get roped into these things…?). I had sort of designed this scenario with Jackson’s new character in mind (the tank commander with Repair d8)… the players were kind of screwed out of complete success when he didn’t show up.

1 July 1941, Southwest of Grodno

SITUATION

After breaking out of the encircling Germans trap, the survivors still find themselves cut off behind Germans lines… They met up with some other survivors and stragglers and were heading generally eastward trying to get some sense of where the front line is, all the while trying to avoid German patrols and watchful collaborators, they discovered an abandoned truck…

SCENARIO

The Truck has been strafed by a German aircraft. The driver was killed and it swerved off the road. It is slightly damaged, and any cargo it carried is gone, but has a full tank of gas!

The truck requires a repair roll or notice (whichever is worse) to diagnose what is wrong with it. Once that has been successfully performed the players will be told that it will require 4 repair rolls – each requiring an action (at -4 – due to damage and lack of tools). When it is fixed the truck needs to be pushed back out of the mud it is mired in. This requires a strength roll at -6 (others can aid the roll) and a driving roll at -2 – both at the same time!

Each turn a German patrol will be dealt in they do not arrive on the table until they are dealt a face card.

FORCES

Soviet Forces (scattered elements of the Tenth Army, Western Special Military District)

The Russians arrive at the truck and give it a once over. Rayadovoy Travek notices it isn’t too badly damaged (originally he went bust on that diagnostic roll… rolled two ones!? He was originally going to leave it and try again next turn. Luckily he bennied it and succeeded, because if he hadn’t I would have made further diagnostic checks at -2 and added two more repair rolls to fix it!!)

After a couple turns of unsuccessful hammering away on the truck with his jackknife the Germans showed up…

The first turn they were there one of the Russians plugged one of the MG crew.

Next turn, down went another and the rest of the team failed morale… it generally went downhill for the MG team. Patrick was dealt a Joker and rolled “Close Call” for fortune and calamity (Enemy unit suffers -2 to all trait tests for the turn) – which meant no one recovered… then they were dealt two deuces in a row dropping their ammo level to “last shots” – in guess all the blood and goo in the ammo box would have fouled the MGs action. Then a third member of the team was taken out… it was all bad. The remaining member finally rallied and was at the end of the game the only German not shaken… (but I’m getting ahead of myself here…)

The same turn Patrick was dealt the joker was, I think, the only turn his character, Rayadovoy Aelek Travek, actually made a successful repair roll on the truck…

John had the most unbelieveable luck – first he showed up early so he got to wear the “Lucky Pilotka” again. Then he was dealt two jokers – gaining him two MORE bennies!?

Actually the commies had all the luck; I think they were dealt a total of four or five jokers in a relatively short game and I didn’t’ get a single one!?

Rayadovoy Travek, having little cover was more or less doomed. I think he soaked one hit. The next one caused one wound – and he kept trying to fix the truck, the next hit did four or five wounds splattering guts and gore all over the engine block…

(is that three for three, Patrick? Maybe consider taking “luck” for your next character… or remember to bring more Natural Brew Root Beer or maybe just try to Not Be Seen!)

The German Rifle section tried to move around the flank under cover and close to short range – but the crack shot Ruskies (with some help from all their jokers) shot the crap out of them and they eventually decided to bug out and call it even…

Post game I gave them ONE chance to try and fix the truck… and Serzhant Boris Trotsky, despite being totally unskilled (d4-2), did it!? Of course I gave them one chance to get it unstuck and the only character with driving skill was the only one with strength higher than d4… so it remained mired in the mud and they left on foot headin east once again…

Those Ruskies shoot to kill… well.. that’s what they TRY to do. Though the Germans suffered no KIAs this time around – Of the seven casualties, five of them were seriously wounded!? Because they lost and had to bug out – dragging their casualties three of them expired before they made it to a hospital.

Nice, fun, QUICK game ("Fast, Furious, and Fun"). I guess that's what happens when you don't have 50+ guys on the table...

Coming soon to Savage Timmy’s Playhouse:

A report of Savage Saturday’s Realms of Cthulhu game – which I hope to conclude the adventure we started a couple weeks ago – but didn’t quite manage to finish up in the one evening.

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Wednesday’s game was cancelled due to a board meeting – but Saturday CVT was in town (but wanting to go to bed early because he was running a marathon the next day with Amanda – so I set up a big skirmish for (Savage) Saturday afternoon!

28 June 1941, North of Bialystok, Poland

SITUATION

The survivors of the previous action have returned to Russian lines but still find themselves under relentless assault. They have joined with elements of the 4th Tank Division and other units to form a scratch force for a counterattack to harras the rapidly advancing Germans extended line of supply and breakout of the rapidly tightening encirclement!

SCENARIO

Russian forces must exit the North edge of the table before second line german troops can be formed to block them. The game will end when d6 + the turn # = 20+

FORCES

Soviet Forces (Elements of the 2nd Rifle Division and 4th Tank Division, Tenth Army, Western Special Military District)

People started drifting in around 1PM… some had to make characters… I was still trying to BS some stats for the T-26S and the Pak 35/36… we got started around 2PM…

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)Darrin was the firs to show up so he got to wear the “Lucky Pilotka” (gaining him a bonus benny!)

There was five Russian players and five approximately squad-sized groups of extras so each controlled one (though Jackson also had his tank and crew…)

The commie hordes line up to begin their charge across the relatively open table – all German forces began the game hidden – as most players seem to be giving their characters d4 in Notice to give themselves better Shooting the Germans universally got the first shot off… I should have been REALLY nasty and given them “the drop” (+4 to hit, +4 to damage…) I haven’t been, as I worked under the assumption that they were advancing in some state of readiness – expecting that there would be Germans out there SOMEWHERE!?

Kapitan Molotov and his squad didn't arrive until the second turn as CVT hadn't returned from his shopping trip with Amanda..

The Russians Start taking fire! The T-26 spun out of control (I’ve got to tweak the out of control rules – the movements that vehicles end up making are somewhat ludicrous…).

I was really annoyed that I couldn't find any of my explosion markers throughout the game... I'll have to make more... bigger ones... and tank burn markers!!

The first shot was from the Pak35/36; a Penetrating hit causing one wound and a crew hit. I realized after the game that I worked out the damage for the gunner (the crewmember that was hit) wrong and he SHOULD have been reduce to paste… ah well… the tank surviving and fighting on made for a slightly more interesting game.

Also I realized I forgot to make Jackson’s roll guts/spirit checks for his tank commander when the tank got hit (with that d4 spirit he probably would have bailed on that first hit (or any of the subsequent hits!)

Then the MG opened up and lit up some conscripts!

RAT-AT-TAT-TAT!

The Russians continue their advance!

…and began clustering in the woods for cover.

Sooooo wish I’d had a mortar…

The MGs started making a mess of any groups that were in the open…

Gary’s (Sgt Zaitzoff) lot made a dash for it when the HMG team took some casualties.

Only to run directly into a hail of bullets from a rifle team concealed in the next stand of trees!

A couple of LMG teams had made themselves known at this point too!

Sgt. Zaitzoff vs. German Rifle team – actually they had already fired at his squad and made a mess of them. I think the Serhzant was also hit but shrugged it off. He made a dash past these guys and off the table to freedom shortly thereafter!

One of the LMG teams

Tank and supporting infantry advance.

Carnage – bodies pile up as the advance struggles forward!

The tank and the AT gun were having quite the duel. The tank, at first, tried to pump HE into the woods then later just sprayed it with bullets from the Co-axil MG. The AT gun scored a second hit that reduced the speed of the tank. The tank shook on of the AT gun crew, and then killed another (which caused the remaining one to be shaken)… Eventually a second AT gun crew man was KOed but the remaining one finally recovered, slowly loaded and aimed the AT gun and finished off the tank! The crw bailed out and ran for it, just making it off the table on the last turn!

(while the tank was still in action…) slowly moving up…

Fire from the advancing Soviet riflemen took out the LMG team in the woods so the supporting Rifle section advanced and took up the lines at the front edge of the woods.

They started messing up the advancing Soviets to their front pretty badly…

Eventually they pretty much took them all out…

The Russians didn’t even get close

(but while they were busy shooting up the regular Soviet riflemen, the Russian with the big-ass AT Rifle snuck on by on their flank and escaped off the table!)

On the other side of the road Russians took cover in woods opposite the other German rifle section. The soviets had run out of ammo, but still had a couple of grenades…

Finally they had to just rush the Germans.

It was a nasty close combat with both sides being nearly wiped out

(and while they were busy a few more characters slipped past and made it off the table!)

The Carnage

After the game I tallied things up and sorted out the casualties…

The Soviets had started with 47 of those 17 were killed in action or died of serious wounds shortly thereafter. Another 19 were lightly wounded and taken prisoner (of those 16 died in captivity and only 3 returned home after the war…). Two others had been knocked out of action on the tabletop but escaped to fight another day. Only seven escaped off the table – the five characters, and the two tank crew!?

The Germans started with 27. Of those 2 were killed in action. Eight were seriously wounded needing evacuation to a hospital in the rear and possibly returned home to Germany. Another four were lightly wounded and required treatment at the regimental adie post but were quickly returned to action. Three were knocked out of action, but sustained only bumps and bruises and were immediately returned to action.

Conclusions

The Tank-AT battle was fun – going to have to include a bit more of that!! (should have ordered those bailed crew from Bolt Action Miniatures when I ordered all the other stuff!? DOH!!)

The PCs – who weren’t necessarily even commanders of any type (Rick and Darrin’s being simply riflemen – members OF the squad they controlled) – tended to use their extras as “meatshields”. Sending them to their doom ahead of themselves so they could then dash across the far edge of the table. Perhaps I should tie how many of the extras in their teams matter – however many survive determine how many you have next time… or however many survive determine how many XP the characters get…

Also there was an awful lot of coordination between the different groups… that really shouldn’t have happened. Perhaps I could penalize such table talk with characters losing their next action (the time it took to shout to the other team leaders…?)